Causes of Homelessness
WELCOME!
This semester our focus will revolve around the Town Hall Meeting.
During the Spring 2009 Town Hall Meeting, students from US 101 will facilitate an evening of discussion and awareness-raising on topics pulled from The Soloist. This book explores the nature of interconnectedness amongst joblessness, homelessness, and mental illness.
This discussion will start here! Via “blogging” our students will have the opportunity to discuss similar ideas with students from other US 101sections. The responses will help you reflect upon your own thinking, while examining and responding to your peers’ writing. Through your responses, you will learn how to better articulate your ideas while examining and incorporating multiple perspectives.
Have fun and starting ‘bloggin’…
It was apparent in Gladwell’s Million-Dollar Murray that he was trying to make a point saying it is society and the Government’s fault for the huge homeless population. Upon finishing the piece he tries to instill guilt among the public and the government. He shared some good facts but the point he made was very opinionated and debatable. The article works because it sparks a slight feeling of guilt, but when stepping back it is easy to realize that his points are very arguable. There is no reason for anyone to feel guilty and like they should do something for the homeless population. The increasing homeless problem is solely blamed on the homeless individuals themselves.
The truth of the matter is we can help the homeless until we run out of money to spend, but nothing will change. The homeless population is bound to stay the same as long as the homeless individuals stay the same. A huge problem lies among the average homeless individual, and that problem is lack of motivation. It would be impossible to force motivation into a person. If the homeless keep lacking the will to motivate themselves the issue will remain static.
matthew.smith3 Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
@kathryn.smith3, Kathryn, would you be able to identify what facets of Gladwell’s article, precisely, were debatable? A common adage asserts, “It takes a village”: to raise a child, for one to succeed, etc. I think what Gladwell is saying is that it takes a “village,” in this case society, to not only solve a problem like this, but create it. How much of society played a part in creating these individuals with such a “lack of motivation”? Could we offer more opportunities for change, more jobs, more counseling, etc? Or maybe help to identify causation, like invest more in education, economic development, care a little more? There is no true individual in the sense that “every man is an island,” as everyone is a product of their environment, a society, a “village.” So if we helped cause the problem, aren’t we obligated to help solve it? Peter Singer, a well-known ethicist wrote, “If one can act without sacrificing anything of similar moral worth, one ought to,” do you agree?
thomas.rupp Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
@kathryn.smith3, Motivation is defined by Webster’s as the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior. Motivation is the main component in which people live one’s life. Whether it be the motivation to wake up every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at eight am to go to class, or to wake up in time to shower and prepare yourself for a long, wonderful day at work, or to get out and meet new people in new town or city. In any sense we all use motivation in our lives whether we know it or not. However the fact is that a majority of the homeless population does not lack the motivation to build that stable base in which to get back on their feet again. “A few months later he went back, and was surprised to discover that he couldn’t find anyone of the people he had recently spent so much time with” (Gladwell 4-5). This par of the text made me remember a cartoon, in which the daughter brings home a new friend who happens to be homeless, then the two families end up spending kwanza together and at the end, the dad goes back to the shelter to find the family but realizes that they weren’t the ones from before but another family that had fallen on hard times. “We found that eighty percent of the homeless we in and out really quickly. In Philadelphia, the most common length of time that someone is homeless is one day, and the second most common length is two days”(Gladwell 5). Not all the homeless lack motivation to survive life’s rocky road, but some are content with their lives. Some people like Nathaniel, and others who have a daily routine that works for them, something that gives there day to day life meaning. Is it our right to force something on somebody they don’t want? Did the Catholic Church really help the Latin American people? You decide, but what’s right for someone is not what’s right for his neighbor.In the end I would have to agree to some point with the points made by Matthew Smith. The point of it takes a “village to raise a child” could be accurate. What can truly happen if only one person where to try and fight this problem on its own? It most likely get no where fast, however with a “village” helping the cause it would have a lot more umpf behind its goal. However if we are just going to stop paying the money to the cause, what then? The problem can only get worse before it gets better and if we stop trying all together things could get pretty hairy.
Eliminating all homelessness is something this country or any other country will never be able to do, because the choice is ultimately up to the individual. Some of those people are not looking for a change in lifestyle or better living and it’s not something you can force on them. If these people are looking for a change they can make it happen, with guidance. So, when asked who is responsible for the homelessness in this country, the answer isn’t really a cut-and- dried “they are the ones responsible.” It’s a combination of many different parts of this problem. The government, surely, could come up with a financially sound way of improving this ever growing problem, the local law enforcement could also be held responsible for helping these people out and then, of course, there is the individual who is in this situation in the first place. Getting this problem solved won’t be easy because it will require the cooperation of all three of these aspects. This country is having a challenging enough time making one of these parties come up with a solution, let alone all three. In addition to this, homelessness isn’t something that can be handled and resolved over night. This is a problem that will slowly be fixed over time, even with everybody working together. Because of the enormity of this problem and the rapid growth of homelessness it is important that something be worked on as soon as possible to get the renewal process started.
alannah.rice Reply:
February 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
@christine.baird,
I agree with you when you say that some of the homeless population is not looking for a change in their lifestyles. Some are in fact comfortable with their way of life, and enjoy the ‘freedom’. I think you show a good understanding of the problems facing society in our search for a solution to homelessness. One thing that stood out to me in your excerpt was your suggestion that the government and law enforcement should be held responsible for the homeless problem. I am curious to know what you think they should do, and how they can be held responsible for this problem. At this time the popular solution of both the government and law enforcement seems to be to let the homeless alone until they commit a crime or get too intoxicated, and then they will step in to take them to a hospital or to jail. They cannot forbid someone from being homeless or make it illegal because obviously it is impossible for every person to have a job and a home. It does not seem like a problem that the government alone can handle. Already there are lots of private services aimed at helping the homeless, and whether or not to utilize these services is ultimately left up to the individual, bringing us back to your point that a solution depends on the wants and needs of the individual. I think a really important aspect that everyone needs to understand, is that not all of the homeless choose their lifestyle, but are instead forced to be out there because of circumstance. Living on the street is obviously not a favorable environment, and a lot of people are transient and trying to get their lives back together. Then, there are the people who have completely given up on successful life, or those who shun the structure and order of society, who will not take help and who wish to remain exactly where they are in life. If someone does not wish to be helped, there is no forcing them into a program designed to get them off the streets. It seems like an end to homelessness will only come about when the root causes are known and stopped. It seems like the root causes are endless, and impossible to keep track of. One possible solution could be stopping it before it starts, but just how could the government know when someone is close to homelessness? How could they hope to keep people off of the streets without knowledge of their financial situations? The government does not have enough resources to keep track of every single person’s financial status to ensure they are not close to being homeless. Law enforcement can not do much more than keep the peace, and private programs can only suggest and offer their services. How long will it take for homelessness to end, if ever? If no solution has been found yet, how many years and how much money down the road will one be found?
In Million-Dollar Murray the author Gladwell starts off in Reno and moves to Los Angeles, and the LAPD. Now what is the significance of the LAPD and how does it correlate to homeless people? In this section of the essay the author goes into good cop and bad cop in the LAPD, where the bad cops are abusing their right of power and harassing people that where already arrested. As he writes more in this section, he writes about how to stop this issue of bad cops in the force. I believe that the author wants to make a comparison between this situation and the homeless situation, and how these issues are similar. The police department got rid of the “bad apples” but it didn’t seem to stop the bad cop issue in this department, and the author is try to compare this situation with the homeless in that the way we are trying to help the homeless is not working. It is a great idea and a good way to bring outside information into the essay, but it was not organized well and it just didn’t fit or flow together that entirely well.
The next and best part of the essay is ideas and actions to stop the homeless issue, not to control or help out, but to stop the issue. Instead of spending vast amounts of money in homeless shelters and soup kitchens, there are apartments aligned specifically for homeless people to possess a key to the apartment and end homelessness.
erika.swanson Reply:
February 16th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
@ross.flick, I felt that the correlation between the LAPD and the homeless issue was a question of distribution rather than the morality of practice or the effectiveness of either “solutions.” Tell me more about your ideas on the solutions. Do you feel that if we “solve” the most severe cases that we are satisfactorily combating the issue of homelessness?
Do you feel that Gladwell addresses the “invisible” homeless? Do you feel that overall funding and attention paid to the homeless community would be negatively or positively affected if we were to take the most glaringly obvious or extreme cases of homelessness off the streets? I would be interested in your thoughts!
danielle.patton Reply:
February 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
@ross.flick,
Ross, I agree that we are not solving the problem by fixing the homeless people up in the hospital and then sending them back to the street again. It is just putting a temporary fix on a permanent problem. You say that the best part of the essay was talking about taking action and fixing the problem of homelessness for good. But the question is what kind of homelessness should be fixed? Do we put an end to all homelessness or the group of chronically homeless? The chronically homeless are defined as people who have been continuously homeless for over a year versus the non-chronic homeless people who are only in transition and are only homeless for a day or two. You bring up very good points out of the Gladwell essay. You posted your blog under causes of homelessness but when reading your entry I did not fully understand what you believe determine the reasons behind the homelessness issue. You also stated that there are apartments available for homeless people but I feel like you do not take a stand on it. I think that you agree that helping out temporarily by for example, a man splitting his head open from falling and taking him to the E.R. to get stitches, is an ineffective way to fix the problem. However; do you feel that by putting the homelessness in an apartment or some type of housing problem is going to be an effective way to end homelessness or do you believe in a different method of ending the problem? Something I believe in and would be very interesting to explore under the causes of homelessness would be the government. With the way things are going in the world today with the economy and the recession we are going into, many people are losing their jobs along with their houses. Banks foreclose on people’s houses and the government bails the banks and credit card companies out before they help out their own citizens. So what are the citizens forced to do, most of which have families, they get kicked out onto the streets thus only adding to the population of homelessness. People often do not see the severity of homelessness but it is a huge issue. Some homeless people really need a lot of help. They are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol or they have mental disabilities. Those homeless problems are generally categorized with the chronically homeless which make up a big part of the homeless population and a lot of the chronically homeless have a mental disorder. It is wrong and immoral for us as human beings just ignore this issue. Bless the doctors and hospitals for not refusing them of medical attention but something else needs to be done. It costs us more to not doing something about the situation. I would still like to know more about how you feel on the situation. What do you feel are other reasons and factors that contribute to homelessness? And do you think that there is something the homeless could have done earlier in life that can be done to prevent them from becoming homeless? Or do you believe that it is inevitable for some people or that maybe some people are just born into it? I am curious about what you think are other causes of homelessness.
Homelessness is like a layered cake in the fact that all the pieces of the cake are interconnected and have some effect on the way the cake itself is presented. Take the foundation of the cake, the most important part for everyone knows if you have no base you have no support structure to build off of and what you can build is on shaky ground that collapse at any time. All it takes is one single shake or crack to appear. It is different for everyone who has/is homeless. Traumatic situations in ones life can be the shake or the crack and soon their lives are tumbling down. During the sixties and seventies the Vietnam War was in full swing and many young men came home having witnessed some horrific sights and some (not all) were haunted by what they had witnessed. It would latter be called PTSD or Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. It is now affecting countless soldiers who are returning from the battlefields of the 21 century, Iraq and Afghanistan. Now over “40% of the homeless population are veterans and of this 67% of the veteran homeless population served 3 or more years in the Armed Forces”(LAHSC). This means to say that after most of the graduates of West Point Military academy have finished their required 5 years of service they will become homeless. This may not be the problem to homelessness, but most people who witness these gruesome things often find a way to coop, that usually means drug use or alcoholism which can lead to the base becoming shaky and unstable just like a poorly built layered cake.
effie.orser Reply:
February 13th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
@thomas.rupp, If it were, as suggested that these homeless veterans are homeless or mentally ill because they have witnessed awful scenes of war, then why do we not see an epidemic of homeless police officers, EMTs, doctors, fire fighters, social workers, prison guard, and in general anyone who has been the first one on the scene of a fatal car accident. It all has to do with the individual’s ability to cope with such scenes. The military offers as much if, not more, help as all of these other professions.
The entire military as of today is all volunteers. Not one current military member was drafted or forced into the military. When you volunteer for the civic duty of military service, you are very much aware of what you are signing up for. Many people sign up for the military for many different reasons, but everyone is well aware of exactly what they are signing on for.
emily.edwards Reply:
February 17th, 2009 at 9:19 am
@effie.orser,
I question how much everyone who enlists really knows about what they are getting into. I think some might think they know, but not really have a clear understanding of the depths of their commitment.
I would argue that every college student knows what they are signing on for, when they choose to attend college. But very often, many find a different reality than what they expected and have a hard time adjusting to their new world.
Wouldn’t you agree that just because one researches and investigates, and is even told what they will be “signing up for,” that doesn’t guarantee that one will still fit into that situation smoothly?
Back to your question to Thomas, even if vets did know what they were “signing up for” why the difference in the number of homeless vets as opposed to EMTs, police officers etc?
The next topic this essay really brought to my attention is that Murray did well when assigned to a treatment program that he successfully completed. After completion of the program he went right back to his old ways. O’Bryan said “Once he graduated out, he had no one to report to, and he needed that”. O’Bryan also said “I don’t know whether it was his military background”. “I suspect that it was”. (Gladwell 1) With this said it really brought up a really big question for me, since you always here about the homeless veterans. Does military experience cause people like Murray to be more likely to become homeless? Or, is it people like Murray that if having had no military experience would have become homeless anyway? So, is the fact that the military is so structured that some people do not know how to function in the real world after being in the service? Or, maybe those are the type of people who would not have been able to function in the world, even without the military experience. It is a really important issue to definitely explore some more. I really do not feel like I have the correct answer, but I am leaning towards the military experience has little relevance on not being able to function as a productive member of society. I believe it has more to do with individuals state of mind, but we do like to blame are problems on someone or something besides our selves.
dani.jung Reply:
February 16th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
@effie.orser, It is a strong statement to say that “military experience has little relevance on not being able to function in society”, especially when you evaluate the statistics surrounding veterans that are homeless. However, maybe it isn’t the military but instead what they experience when they have to re-adjust to society. Are we the problem? Do we make it so hard for them to adjust that they are unable to function as a member of society? What are your thoughts on the reasons why so many of the homeless are veterans?
geri.hall Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
@effie.orser, I agree with you on your views that a persons’ own state of mind affects how the person might function in todays’ society.A state of mind affects the way that person lives his or her life it also has a huge affect on the way you would look at any situation.It will control the way you choose to live your life.A state of mind can almost mean anything in this case.However I feel that military expirence has a significent affect on the way a veteran re-enters back into society and it’s always nice to think that the world may be just blaming their problems on situation that may not exist but the truth is it does exist and does affect our communities.Veterans make up around 23% of the homeless population.A couple of ideas’ that I thinking about was that if we were to have the veterans that were just discharged go through some sort of re-instatemant program where they would take the proper classes to help them adjust back to everyday life.The Veterans Affairs administers a number of programs the (DCHV) and (HCHV) are the two oldest programs but they don’t stop there they also offer a number of other programs to aid in the follow-up care, referrals, residental treatments as well as psychosocial assessments of veterans. It has been stated that most combat veterans do not start to see the after affect of the war as long as seven month after being discharged.Comming back to a persons state of mind, you would almost need to psycoanalize every single persons up bringing to see exactly where their state of mind was at if you were to put the blame on something.
“What we have found in this country, and maybe we’re more aware of it now, is one problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, and that is the people are sleeping on the grates, the homeless, you might say by choice” (Ronald Reagan). Just as Ronald Reagan stated, in many cases, homeless is a choice. When the United States puts money into ending homelessness, it affects individuals who are in need of sincere help, because the funds are being spent on individuals who do not have the want to leave their homeless lifestyles. In America, ending homelessness is economically fair, but morally wrong.
matthew.smith3 Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 11:53 am
@sarah.ralls, Sarah would you expand on your logic on why ending homelessness is morally wrong? You indicate that your belief may parallel Reagan, in the sense that homelessness is a choice, so are you arguing that ending homelessness is morally wrong in the sense that we are violating individual’s personal agency? That is they are making a conscious decision, and we are impeding on their freedom to choose homelessness.
christofer.gibbs Reply:
February 19th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
@sarah.ralls, The sentiment of this particular post seems entirely contrary to some of the points made in Gladwell’s essay. One can safely say that yes, some people may actively choose to be homeless, as there are no absolutes, However, the homeless population talked about most in “Million Dollar Murray”, the chronically homeless, generally tend to be older, and mentally ill and/or physically disabled. (Gladwell 3) It would not seem reasonable to assume that mentally ill individuals are necessarily choosing to be homeless. There may not be adequate resources for these people to access that can help them out of their situation, or, if there are, some homeless may not know how to access and fully utilize these resources. Murray himself participated successfully in a treatment program (though he relapsed, indicating that the program may have been insufficient for preparing patients for living on their own)(Gladwell 1), which would suggest that he had an active interest in bettering himself, and not being homeless. Even if a mentally homeless if technically making a ‘choice’ the be homeless, they may be doing so through damaged and warped minds, causing their choices to be irrational and self-destructive.
It may be tricky to determine exactly when a person is incapable of making their own decisions, but to imply that all homeless people are simply making poor decisions, and aren’t deserving of any government help, as Reagan does, does not seem reasonable. Sarah suggests that homeless simply may not have the want to leave their homeless lifestyles, and that ending homelessness is somehow morally wrong. I could not disagree more. It may be impossible to ever fully end homelessness, but ignoring the problem, and giving chronically homeless populations less help than they’re receiving now strikes me as a morally irresponsible choice.
I think that the largest obstacle in this crisis is the willingness of the homeless to change their lives. Some truly are out there by choice, while others are just going through a tough time in their lives and trying to get it back together. There are certainly individuals who find it easier to live off of panhandling, stealing, alcoholism, and so-called freedom, than to live in a structured society where they have to answer to someone, pay taxes, and hold a steady job. It is people like this who make finding a solution difficult. What are we supposed to do when someone does not wish to change? You cannot fix someone who does not think they are broken.
Poverty is typically the number one reason for homelessness, although lack of work opportunities, unaffordable health care and the decline in public assistance come in close behind, (www.camillushouse.org). It is an important thing to understand that most of the people who live on the streets did not get there by choice, but were probably faced with a very difficult event that forced them to resort to homelessness. If we could find a solution for homelessness, not only would we end the suffering of many, but we would save money and make our streets much safer. All in all, this issue will not go away on its own, but will only continue to grow unless we do something about it. We must, as a society, work together to find someway to put an end to homelessness.
erika.swanson Reply:
February 16th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
@alannah.rice, I think you bring up some interesting points regarding homelessness. I, too, ponder if homelessness is a merit based illness. However, what if some of these people are truly the smarter of society? Does this freedom of choice cause challenge to your statement of “You cannot fix someone who does not think they are broken,” by questioning if it is not society that is truly broken? Essentially, we, as society, have set up social rules and expectations, but if not all members of society want to or can operate within this boundaries, are our expectations unrealistic or misaligned? Can we stay a primarily capitalistic government and still try to help people?
Homelessness is a nationwide problem and may never be solved. It is truly not society’s decision to have so many homeless, and those who are homeless don’t choose to be there either. Despite the growth in services and resources to the homeless, over the last 15 years the number of people whose circumstances are severe enough to cause homelessness has not diminished in any significant way (Helping America’s Homeless). We can offer them help, we can put roofs over their heads, but we cannot make them participate in homeless programs. These persons or families who are homeless have to want the help being offered. There are two foundational issues with homelessness. One is related to our expectations of the homeless and the outcomes of their participation. The other is to separate out those who choose homelessness as a result of their failure to seek help for the underlying illness such as drug addiction. If they, as a population do not want the help, why do we keep offering it to them?
alexandria.vik Reply:
February 18th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
@genea.serrano, I am interested in your quote “it is truly not society’s decision to have so many homeless, and those who are homeless don’t chose to be there either.” Do you think it is possible that some of the homeless people DID in fact choose this alternative life style? Also, it may not be a society’s choice to have homeless people that choose to live on the street but couldn’t one argue that it IS the decision of a given society to take action or not; ultimately removing the majority of the homeless from the streets, alleys, etc.?
Additionally, you mention separating out those who “choose homelessness as a result of their failures to seek help for underlying illness such as drug addiction”. This is an instance where perhaps there really isn’t an alternative for these particular people. Unlike the people that choose such a lifestyle, as I mentioned above, it is safe to say that people who become homeless as a result of addiction did not choose this.
That being said, how do we as a society decide who is worth helping and who we should opt out of offering any sort of aide?
Homelessness is a pitiful reality.A person will sink to the bottom,sometimes slow sometimes quicker than others and feel trapped,lost and alone with no where to turn.Without some kind of help it is impossible to swim back to the top without drowning.I believe there is not a price that can be put on human life.People do have choices but don’t or are incapable of always making the right ones all of the time.There is opportunity if one can obtain the tools necessary to find all the resources government and state has to offer.Homeless people must be helped,but the homeless assistance system can neither prevent people from becoming homeless nor change the overall availability of housing,income and services that will truly end homelessness.The domestic violence is even more disturbing,victims must choose between losing their homes or their lives,thirteen percent is the cause of homelessness.Also six hundred fifty thousand prisoners will be released this year without assistance they will be homeless.Veterans have no place to return home to.At any given night two hundred thousand are living in shelters and in the streets.Chronic homeless one hundred fifty thousand people are homeless.
Despite being very informative and useful, I do have several criticisms of Gladwell’s paper. One being that the topic of the root causes of homeless were not only not explored, but not even brushed upon. I found this omission to be too glaring, as possible measures that could be used to prevent homelessness should, in my opinion, be included among the main focal points of the homeless debate, especially considering that a relatively small portion of the homeless population (the chronically homeless) make up the lion’s share of the costs attributed to the homeless problem [Gladwell 3]. Assuming homelessness maintains a power law distribution as it has now [Gladwell 3], wouldn’t it make sense to further research any background commonalities that may be found in chronically homeless populations? This question was one of the first went through my mind as I began reading this paper, yet Gladwell failed to even pay it lip service. Any strategy aimed at improving the homeless situation, namely any long term strategy, should absolutely include preventative programs aimed at individuals who may pose a high risk of future homelessness. In order for this to happen, a more thorough understanding of what leads certain individuals to chronic homelessness is needed. Preventative research may not have immediate results, but it could prove extraordinarily beneficial in the long run.
sarah.ralls Reply:
February 13th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
@christofer.gibbs, Thought is a rare thing that by the grace of God cannot be heard. Homeless people cannot be predicted by research, because even when information may seem to have relations, it breaks the freedom of thought. There is no rule to thought, no regulations for imagination, and no control on what personal prediction can be. A person has a right to privacy. Whether it is respected or not, making predictions about an individual, is unnecessary and cruel. If I was considered to be a homeless person “someday” I would be hurt, because it would be stating a point that I personally have not accepted, and have not chose. Facts may be true for one person, but are completely false for another. Researching the current homeless, may help predict if some people will be homeless, however, this is not always the case. People with antisocial personalities are most likely to be homeless (Psychiatric Services). Yes this may be true some of the time, but it most definitely is not true the majority. If this was true, more people would be homeless, because personalities are sorted between introverted, and extroverted. If this was true there would be almost fifty percent of the population that would be homeless. Thought is a rare thing that no man can violate along with emotion, therefore research cannot predict homelessness.
ryan.phillips4 Reply:
February 16th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
@christofer.gibbs, I do completely agree with this point of view you have made. Gladwell did not make any direct remark about any actual causes of homelessness. Should further actions be taken to find the true causes of chronic homelessness? I believe a significant cause of homelessness is right in our faces, it is called addiction. “One time, he accumulated savings of over six thousands dollars. Showed up for work religiously. Did everything he was supposed to do. They said, ‘Congratulations,’ and put him back on the street. He spent that six thousand in a week or so” (Gladwell 2). Murray’s alcohol addiction has kept him homeless and sick. I feel it is safe to say, if Murray did not have an addiction problem, he could have used his savings to get an apartment and start a new, sober, and healthy life. I say addiction is a main cause for many reasons. One reason is, if a person has a strong addiction problem then he or she has a chemical imbalance in his or her brain, thus leading to mental illness. I feel for a second reason, willingness of an addicted person or homeless person is a factor as well. Willingness can go both ways. The first way is for a homeless person to be willing enough to seek and accept help to get his or her life back on the right track and get off the streets. The second is for a chemically dependent person to seek help after realizing he or she has an addiction problem and before they become homeless. “A study of one thousand predominately young homeless people in hostels, centres and on the streets of London in the mid-1990’s reported the eighty eight percent were taking at least one drug and thirty five percent were heroin users” (Neale Joanne 429). This study concludes that these young people’s addiction problem has gotten and kept them homeless. Obviously, a person with an addiction problem, is where he or she is because of their chemical dependency, thus leading to their homelessness. Any “normal” person on the streets that is homeless is probably due to another significant problem other than addiction or mental illness. You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink. I know there are at least a few chronically homeless people that actually prefer to live on the streets. So how do you solve a homeless problem when a person is not willing to accept help? Other than veterans returning back from combat, tragically and mentally scared from experiences in battle. I would briefly like to touch base on chemically dependent convicts being paroled back into society. After being institutionalized and without a transitioning or recovery program. Convicts left to their own devices, without tools nor skills learned to stay sober, do feel their addiction problem, or any “average Joe’s” addiction problem, would ultimately lead them back to prison or homelessness?
America, small town Bozeman, and world wide. This may not be the only contributing factor, but in my opinion, it has a very significant impact.
I feel it is safe to say that Murray has an alcohol problem. Left to his own devices, he can’t, or chooses not to drink. His life is unmanageable though. Under supervision he stays sober, holds a job, and is a productive member of society. When he is not under supervision, he is back to his insanity of drinking. Take this into consideration. “One time he accumulated savings of over six thousand dollars. Showed up for work religiously. Did everything he was supposed to do. They said, ‘Congratulations,’ and put him back on the street. He spent that six thousand in a week or so.” (Gladwell 2) Given the vagueness of that statement, his alcohol problem has led him to live on the streets of Reno.
Cities like Denver, are working to solve their homelessness problem. Officials and social workers are spending thousands of dollars per year, per homeless person, to “help” them.
The homeless people that are in the worst shape today are the older, thirty years old and up. These people have had time to build up addictions to drugs and alcohol and reliance’s on other people for support. If we, as a society, work together to insure the wellbeing of the youngest generations then it is like pulling out the root of a weed and the weed dies. This does not mean that they should not help the older homeless people only that in order to fix the problem we have to start with the young. In my opinion the elderly have lasted this long and they can wait until younger homeless people are taken care of before they develop addictions. Helping the young or the old homeless is great the only problem is that the funds needed to actually begin to fix the problem have to come from the people that do not care about the problem at all.
we have let the lucky and wealthy succeed and left the baggage (homeless) in the dark. “Society has become more and more complex and has offered little to bring along those who are not able to keep up with the change” (Gary Johnson). Donations and charity are supposed to be about caring and giving not a way to “save face” for people magazine. Although charity is charity no matter what the reasons, and even if it is wrong for celebrities and the very wealthy to donate for “different” reasons it is still money toward solving the problem of homelessness. For right or wrong, if more people donated money and were dedicated to at least doing their part, homelessness would be much less of a problem.
@genea.serrano
It may difficult to convince the homeless people to move into an unknown environment, and they may even turn the offer down at first. But with determination and encouragement, the homeless people will eventually begin to see the brighter side of things. So, if the homeless people say they don’t want help, what wonder what the reason would be to continue these efforts. The homeless people do want to be helped; it just takes some motivation and effort.
One of the issues of homelessness in the blog was “our expectations of the homeless and the outcomes of their participation”. The homeless don’t have expectations - they are already at the bottom level of society. The outcomes of their participation is what we strive to get to, but it is not going to happen overnight. Patience must be apparent, or the homeless people will not be convinced.
With some incentive and inspiration, the help of giving these apartments to people in some level of poverty will make a difference. Some people are lost, some are confused, some are sick, and some have just given up. The stronger people of the community must take action and work towards a stronger community as a whole. If it seems like the efforts are not working, think how long it must have taken a homeless person to adapt to sleeping on filthy roads with no warmth, no food, and practically nothing. Believing in this housing solution and having the drive to solve it will go a long way in helping those that are lost.
emily.edwards Reply:
February 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am
@c.torabirussell,
Are you talking about our expectations of the homeless or their expectations/desires? I would think that even though they are as you say “at the bottom level of society” that they would still have expectations and desires.
@kathryn.smith3
In Kathryn Smith’s blog about “Million Dollar Murray” I agree with some of her points and note she also states some good facts. I have to disagree with the overall tone as I am sure there are some homeless people out there that do have motivation to want to get out of their particular situation. They just might not be able to express their motivation because we don’t take the time to talk to the homeless. Not all homeless what to be homeless forever. The homeless that may not be motivated would most likely be these impaired by their mental illness as most of the time they aren’t even in a good state of mind, and maybe the drug addicts because their addiction drives their behavior and decision making.
Kathryn also says “that we can help the homeless till we run out of money.” I don’t think that would do us as a society any good what’s so ever. We would all become homeless, and the last thing that we need is to add to the homeless population. Also, if we just give them money we don’t really know what that’s going toward, and we don’t need to add to their victimization by their addiction or illness. I think there are so many other ways of helping the homeless then just giving them money. I think that one solution might be to make them aware of the food banks that we offer in town, or maybe point them in a direction of a shelter. It may not be the nicest thing to do but they need some sort of direction in their lives. Most of the time they don’t have family to help them so maybe if someone they don’t know is helping them they might think someone actually does care. Maybe we need to have more people out there willing to help the homeless, such as helping them find a job. Finding a job is the biggest thing because without a job most of the time that means no money and if you have no money or job toy will not get a place to live. In some cases someone with a disable that is homeless they can get disable checks from the government, but I think they aren’t really aware of it or are scared to ask for them; maybe that’s because the government might know where to find them.
I also agree with the fact that the homeless population will stay the same as long as the homeless stay the same. Common beliefs are that they have to want us to help them we aren’t going to reach our hands out to people that don’t want it because then we are wasting our time and money on someone who doesn’t even really care for themselves. The homeless have a lot more resources then they probably know are available. There are shelters, they might not be nice but sometimes staying somewhere not so nice can make someone want to get their life back together. I can’t see how nice it is living on the streets I know that I don’t ever what to be there. If some of the homeless really love living on the streets then I don’t see the need to help them because then we will just be wasting energy. I think that the ones who want the help need to be the focus of the attention because they want out and they are just screaming for help.
@alannah.rice
Important issues such as mental illness, physical disability, and employed homeless people, were not addressed in your paper, yet they make up the majority of the homeless population. 124,000 homeless people are mentally or physically disabled every year, and 248,000 employed families are homeless on any given night (National Alliance to End Homelessness). The stereotype of homeless people being alcoholics or using drugs is not true for everyone, as seen in the statistics above. It is essential that we do not lump all homeless people into the same category, or it will be even more difficult to help end homelessness in America. However, in your paper, you neglected to discuss mental illness, physical disability, and working homeless, as reasons for homelessness. If more than one point of view is not addressed, than the paper is lacking in support for the argument.
Chronic homelessness is a serious issue; most chronic homeless people have serious mental health issues. As of January 2007, approximately 124,000 chronic homeless people live in the United States. Surveys indicate the number has decreased since then, in part due to an increase in supportive and permanent housing programs for the homeless (National Alliance to End Homelessness). In situations where homeless people are mentally or physically disabled, the act of just getting a job cannot be a solution to their problems. Some may not be able to work due to their disabilities, and some may need to be supervised on a daily basis due to mental disabilities.
“It is an important thing to understand that most of the people who live on the streets did not get there by choice,” (Rice). It is important to remember that most mentally ill and physically disabled homeless people do not choose to be unemployed, but rather most are unable to work. These issues are not addressed in your paper, but it is something that needs to be considered when writing a paper; different perspectives are what build an argument.
“There are certain individuals who find it easier to live off panhandling, stealing, alcoholism, and so-called freedom, than live in a structured society where they have to answer to someone, pay taxes, and hold a steady job,” (Rice). I strongly disagree with this statement, it can, in some cases, apply to homeless people, but definitely not to the majority. This statement is very broad, and you need to specify who the statement refers to, otherwise the reader is just left to assume who you are talking about. Keep in mind that 248,000 people whose families’ work are homeless on any given night. And 42 percent of children in families that are homeless are five years old and under (National Alliance to Homelessness). An astounding five to seven percent (between 1 and 1.5 million) adolescents are homeless at least once each year; however, this statistic amazingly does not include individuals from the ages of 18 to 24 (National Alliance to End Homelessness).
In addition, you could have been more specific when addressing each issue, providing facts, examples, and different perspectives. Overall the paper did not present support such as examples or facts to back up your argument, which is necessary to relay the intended argument to the reader.
@kathryn.smith3
Homelessness is not just an individual’s problem. There are many reasons why people are homeless. It may not be the government’s problem, the public’s problem, or the individual’s problem; it could be purely bad luck. Whether they received bad genes, resulting in a mental disorder, or the economy making it difficult to find a stable job. This is certainly not the homeless individual’s problem.
First off, I do not agree with Kathryn Smith’s statement, “The increasing homeless problem is solely blamed on the homeless individuals themselves.” Statistics show that one in every five homeless persons have a severe or persistent mental illness (United States Homeless Statistics). If people are born with a severe or persistent mental illness, it is clearly not their fault. The public and government need to take action for these people because most of them cannot help themselves; they need help from other people. Also, in Nathaniel’s case from The Soloist, he is a perfect example of someone that cannot help how he is. However, with someone’s help, Nathaniel might be able to help himself and have a more productive life. Without someone else’s help, he would have no idea of what to do or where to even start if he wanted to help himself and find a job.
Secondly, I do not agree with Smith when she states,
A huge problem lies among the average homeless individual, and that problem is lack of motivation. It would be impossible to force motivation into a person. If the homeless keep lacking the will to motivate themselves the issue will remain static.
This could be some individuals problems, however with today’s economy it is very hard to find a good, steady job that pays well enough to make ends meet. Statistics show that twenty-five percent of the homeless nationwide are employed (United States Homeless Statistics). For the most part, the problem is not that the individual is not motivated; it is that there is an uneven balance with the amount of income for a person and the cost of living. People can only work for so long – they could have two jobs, but also need to take care of children and keep up with daily chores that need to be done. This is not really the individual’s problem. It is just that these people have more on their plate to handle than others do, and maybe do not have sufficient money to help them out. Don’t you think it would be morally right to help these people out? Especially those that are working extremely hard and have children to raise, too.
Smith could elaborate further and be more specific on which homeless individuals she is talking about, whether it is the ones that are drinking and doing drugs all the time, or the ones that are struggling to make ends meet and are just coming up short in the end. She could pull other sources to support her information because it sounds like it is all her thinking and makes it hard to believe when there are not any statistics or background information. Altogether, it could be a reasonable argument, however it needs more support from outside sources to convince people that homelessness is the individual’s problem.
@c.torabirussell
When reading your blog response to Million Dollar Murray under the topic “Causes of Homelessness” it was apparent that you had much sympathy for the homeless population. You pointed out many reasons why people should help the homeless and also what we can do to help them. Your blog was very clear, easy to understand and well organized. This helped you to make your argument strong but also debatable. Although there are great features about this blog, there are also many ways to improve it, and many positions to debate it.
You made it very clear that we need to help the homeless, and you emphasized that it will take a lot of time and patience to do so. Out of all of the improvements that could be made on this blog entry, it would be most significant to stress the importance of helping the homeless. Otherwise you aren’t as likely to grasp as big of an audience that completely agrees with you. Also, if you brought out points from the opposing side it would help your statement have more power. If you did this we would see how your argument falls compared to other arguments, and it would be easier to see the importance of your beliefs. Another thing that could be done, in order to make a lasting impression on the reader, would be to bring in evidence to support why your opinion is accurate. If you made these small improvements to your essay it would be much more meaningful.
Since you did not bring opposing views into your response, it wasn’t a very fair blog. If you could have argued why the homeless deserve to be helped then it would have balanced out your statement. Since you didn’t it could leave readers wondering about whether it is really possible to help the homeless. You brings up a good point by saying, “some have just given up.” If these people have really just given up then why is it the community’s responsibility to instill hope in them? There is no reason why society needs to motivate people who are incapable of motivating themselves. If the individual is unable to show any self-motivation then there is no way to instill motivation into that person. If you could have provided text that argued otherwise then your response would have been much more powerful and convincing.
Overall this response made considerable sense. It was a little confusing only because in the end it wasn’t as convincing as you could have made it. It was slightly vague because it touched on more of the ways to cure homelessness and not the causes of homelessness. If you wanted this response to make more sense it would have been wise to touch more on the causes of homelessness and why it is important to improve the homelessness issue. When finishing your text there was a feeling of dissatisfaction because there were to many unanswered thoughts and questions.
Your response was strong in many areas but the weak aspects of your writing gave the piece a rambling end product. Your points are easy to agree with and easy to disagree with that is why you should have added more support and evidence. You would have had a much bigger influence on your readers if you would have taken this into consideration. This piece could be very convincing with minor touch ups.
@alannah.rice
Alannah, I agree that helping the people that have no desire to change their lifestyle or don’t care about the situation they are in, will be the most challenging aspect of solving this problem. Perhaps, for the time being, we, as a nation, should focus our efforts on the homeless with mental disorders, and the ones that truly want to be helped. The families that lost their jobs to economic problems are not on the street because they want to be. They are there because all other options have been taken away from them.
I really like your statement “All in all, this issue will not go away on its own, but will only continue to grow unless we do something about it.” I agree. The homeless problem is only going to get worse with the economy collapsing. Even if we start fixing the homeless issue immediately, it isn’t something that is going to be solved over night. This is a process that takes time, commitment and cooperation. However, the sooner we do start doing something about it, the sooner the homeless problem won’t be as pronounced as it is currently.
I don’t believe we will ever have the streets completely empty of homeless people. That is something you would find in a perfect world. This is by no stretch of the imagination a perfect world. Like I said it would require the cooperation of everybody. The people that aren’t looking for change, the ones completely content with no obligations, will not cooperate. And why should they? Unless it becomes illegal to live this kind of life, these people aren’t likely to have any motivation to become working, tax-paying citizens.
So now the question is, what do we do? How is the best way to go about handling this problem?
It’s easy to point fingers and say they are responsible for this problem in the first place, and it’s their fault, but that won’t fix anything. We need to do something productive to counteract the homeless issue. Perhaps more shelters are the answer. Maybe we need to better publicize the help that is already being offered out there and make the community aware that there is something they can do. I think awareness is a big part of the problem. If the public was more aware of the people out on the streets who need help, I think there would be more people willing to help. Books like “The Soloist” by Steve Lopez are going to give this issue the attention it deserves and needs. There are a lot of people in our society who, I believe, are wanting to help, but don’t know where to start or how to get engaged. If the government could get something started we could slowly start working on this problem. We need that catalyst though. Perhaps more media attention to the homeless issue could give us that first push in the right direction. Alannah, you made some good points, and I completely agree with you. Cooperation is the key.
@sarah.ralls @sarah.ralls- This response is different than the idea Gladwell was getting across in his essay, his essay was about helping the homeless. It wasn’t about it being morally wrong to end homelessness. He was discussing ideas of how to pull homeless people from the streets. Although I do agree with Sarah’s statement about homelessness in some cases being a choice, but where is the supporting evidence stating which individuals don’t want the help and which ones do want help. I don’t believe that you can really say who wants help and who doesn’t, because in reality you don’t know, unless you ask. How do you know that the ones you may be saying don’t need or want the help, but in fact they are the ones who want and need the most help? Yes, some people choose that lifestyle, the one of living on the streets and/or in shelters. The streets may be the place they feel most comfortable. But some people don’t have that choice. Did you know that 66 percent of the homeless population has problems with alcohol, drug abuse and mental illness? (Almanac of Policy Issues) So how can we know who is suffering, how can we choose who to help? Why do you believe that ending homelessness would be morally wrong? I think that it’s morally wrong if we don’t try and help. Or at least help those who want the help. I don’t think it would be fair to stop helping just because some people believe that most of the homeless population choose to be homeless.
In Gladwell’s essay he discusses how Murray was given the opportunity to better himself and he took the help. He got the help he needed, as far as the job and the housing goes, he got the help. Unfortunately Murray needed to be supervised and “checked-in” on so he wouldn’t gravitate back to his old ways. The problem with that is he didn’t have someone to watch over him constantly, but that could also be because he managed to become pretty successful when he was put through the treatment. So I believe that no matter how much time and money our country puts into helping the homeless, homelessness will never cease. It’s an ongoing disease that can’t be cured. By saying that ending homelessness is morally wrong, gives the idea that this country cares more about the economic status rather than their people, especially those people who need more help than others.
The most important aspect that Nathaniel had going for him is the fact that he did not mask his illness with alcohol or other drugs. It is common for people with mental illness to mask their symptoms with substance abuse. This in return makes for an even more difficult diagnosis. The mentally ill are often mistaken for people who are high on drugs. With it being hard, to differentiate between substance abuse and mental illness people will be misdiagnosed as substance abusers (NIMH). Imagine if a homeless person is mentally ill and a substance abuser due to the mental illness. This person has even less of a chance to receive the proper treatment and resources to pursue a recovery program. Even worse, these people would unlikely find the sympathy, compassion, or patience of another human to help them to pursue a treatment program. Another factor in not receiving proper treatment is the cost associated with treating one disease let alone two.
Nathaniel’s story is tragic, to think that someone with so much potential would be afflicted with such a terrible disease and then to top it all off he ends up on the streets. Unfortunately, mental illnesses like schizophrenia do not surface until late teens and early twenties. This makes diagnosis even more difficult. It also makes the burdens on families more complicated. Nathaniel is a great example of how mental illness symptoms showing up in early adulthood can have devastating affects(Schulz). Sadly, Nathaniel was treated initially with treatments that had side affects that were unbearable. The side affects of these treatments contributed to Nathaniel’s paranoia and delusions that everyone was out to get him. It also played a role in Nathaniel being homeless. In Nathaniel’s mental reasoning being on the street was a safe place where he was able to isolate himself.